IREF Europe

Eurozone: Convergence or Divergence?

2026-04-17T17:41:27Z

We revisit the euro’s promise of convergence through a new Divergence Monitor tracking business and financial cycle synchronization since the 1980s. Business cycles became more aligned after 1999, but financial…

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10th Austrian Economics Meeting Europe

2026-04-17T15:28:02Z

The 10th Austrian Economics Meeting Europe will take place at the Université Catholique de l’Ouest (UCO) in Angers (France) from May 28–30, 2026. The conference brings together scholars working in…

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How Poland Became One of Europe’s Best-Performing Economies

2026-02-27T22:24:15Z

For much of the past decade, Europe has been weighed down by prolonged economic stagnation. Growth has slowed, productivity has stalled, and even the continent’s largest economies—Germany and France among…

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Who pays and who should pay for travel?

2026-02-24T06:22:13Z

As the story goes, there are no free rides. The costs of each journey must necessarily be borne by someone. They can be broken down into three categories: the monetary…

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Trump’s Housing Plan Misses the Real Cause of America’s Housing Crisis

2026-02-20T04:43:29Z

America’s housing market is failing a growing share of households. Prices and rents are at record highs, and homeownership is steadily slipping out of reach for younger generations. In response…

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UK government’s plans to track and de-risk its own ‘shadow debt’ show the costs of the Net Zero transition will be imposed directly onto businesses and consumers

2026-02-17T06:32:19Z

Introduction The UK Budget papers of November 2025 acknowledge the funding models through which the government plans to increase the liabilities of UK taxpayers, beyond the government borrowing the money…

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EU–Mercosur: The Making of One of the World’s Largest Free Trade Zones

2026-02-13T04:30:14Z

For more than two decades, the EU–Mercosur agreement remained out of reach—endlessly negotiated, periodically revived, and repeatedly declared dead. Since its launch in 1999, it has weathered financial crises, political…

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The UK’s and EU’s Net Zero policies threaten to destroy their economies in the face of Trump’s oil-led US revival at US$50-per-barrel

2026-02-10T04:46:48Z

Introduction The US is on the move and the geopolitical scenario has moved quickly away from the certainties of the last ten to fifteen years. Oil could come down to…

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Venezuela Is Not a Victim of Sanctions—It’s a Victim of Its Own Policies

2026-02-04T05:26:01Z

Few economic collapses in modern history have been as dramatic, prolonged, and devastating as Venezuela’s. Once the wealthiest country in Latin America, endowed with the world’s largest proven oil reserves,…

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The UK’s November 2025 Budget and ‘Securonomics’

2026-01-28T04:42:49Z

Introduction The UK government’s November 2025 Budget supplied ample corroboration of our report published by IREF in October 2025 (‘the report’), showing that the governing Labour Party plans to greatly…

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